Easy Cooking! pt. 1 - Butterflied Garlic Shrimp

When you're short on time and money, it seems like the easiest thing to do is to go a local fast food joint to pick up a greasy hamburger or burrito. If anyone knows this, it's me. During the past academic year, I ate at least 500 slices of pizza, while sleeping 3 hours a night. That's why when I had free time this summer, the only thing I wanted to do was cook and feast. I have a another blog dedicated to my more challenging culinary adventures as I attempt to perfect the art of popping popovers and braising coq au vin. But this is an entirely different blog. Here I will feature fast and easy recipes that will nourish and impress, and hopefully inspire you to EAT (real food).

Cooking is a skill. And with all skills, it needs practice and consistency. I highly encourage you to start practicing these recipes this summer. Pretty soon, your pantry will be stocked with the right ingredients and you won't even need to follow a recipe. You'll be composing your own impromtu creations and you'll come to love not only eating, but the art of entertaining and cooking. Being a college student doesn't mean you have to be condemned to eating unhealthy and over-processed food!

My first post is about a kitchen appliance that no college student should be without - the toaster oven. It can toast your bagels, bake, and broil your fishes and meats. The best part about is it that it saves electricity if you're cooking for just one or two people. I received the Cuisinart TOB-195 Exact Heat Toaster Oven Broiler in stainless steel as a wedding gift. It's available on Amazon.com for about $150 and it's been rated the best consumer toaster oven. But I know you guys are young, and mostly without an income, so if that's too heavy of an investment, the Proctor Silex 31115, which retails for about $30, is a great basic toaster oven.

So, the first recipe is Butterflied Garlic Shrimp. Eric Ripert, of famed restaurant Le Bernadin, proves that it's the man, not the tools. Look at what this guy can do with just a toaster oven!

1 small clove of garlic minced

1/2 small shallot minced

1/2 tbsp of parsley chopped

2 tbsp of butter softened at room temp

6 medium shrimp peeled and deveined

fine sea salt and fresh ground pepper

1/2 a lemon

Pre-heat the toaster oven to Broil and cook the shrimp 3-4 minutes until it just turns opaque. You may finish it with just a little bit of fresh squeezed lemon juice if you want. The shrimp is perfect served alone, with a rice, or on top of a pasta or salad.

You might not yet be ready to cook with all of the above ingredients. If mincing garlic is too time consuming for you, buy a bottle of pre-minced garlic and just spoon it out. Shallots look like a small onion but are milder and slightly sweeter in flavor. They're great for seafood dishes and store for a really long time in a cabinet with the onions and potatoes. You can, however, substitute shallots with a little bit of minced onion, preferably a red, vidalia, or sweet one. I always try to keep fresh parsley on hand because I use it to flavor my rice and pasta dishes all the time. If you don't use it as often, dried parsley is an alternative, but the flavors just won't be as robust. If you're entertaining or cooking to impress, definitely use fresh parsley, but always the flat leaf Italian variety - not the curly parsley. Try to cook with kosher salt and a black peppercorn grinder for the best flavor. And if you keep a bag of frozen uncooked shrimp, just take out the amount you want to use and soak it in some salt water for about an hour to thaw.

If you try the recipe, let me know how it turns out. Pictures would be great too!